Birthday Wishes
by DixonVixen93
Summary: AU: Set around or just before the Epitaph era, Topher Brink's birthday comes around. How will he spend it? Topher/Bennett


**Hello gentle readers! Welcome to yet another one of my random Topher/Bennett one-shots. **

**I don't own Dollhouse or any of it's characters, just the crap I put the characters into :D**

**This takes place in the Epitaph Era. **

**Lastly, enjoy the fic!**

Adelle DeWitt sighed to herself as she looked at the calendar. It was July 3rd, Topher's birthday. She had no idea what to do for the young man, he had little delight in anything he did lately. The least thing she could was get a cake, he would like that, right?

The dark haired woman walked out of her office and went down into the Dollhouse itself. She soon heard Topher yelling incoherently. Adelle rushed over to his pod and jumped down next to him as she gently pulled him into her arms. Topher mumbled something else before he started violently shaking.

Adelle wrapped a wool blanket around the blonde as she tried to get him to calm down; "Topher sweetie, it's me, calm down please." Adelle whispered running her hand in a circular motion on his back.

He began to mumble again but this time, Adelle finally caught a name. The name flowed out of his mouth followed by a few more sudden shivers and a sob.

"Topher, it's all a dream" Adelle spoke gently, her voice carried all her sadness.

"Bennett." He cried again; "Please come back." his plead was evident in between sobs.

This was a nightly thing for Adelle ever since Bennett's murder. Topher cried for her in his sleep, and Adelle was always there for him, as though he were her son. Of course; to Adelle, that's what Topher was, her child. How can you not go to your child when he is is despair?

He cried out more inaudible words and then jolted awake.

The blonde looked up at Adelle and she kissed the top of his head.

There was an awkward silence between the two as Topher finally willed himself to stop shaking.

"The dream never changes." he finally chokes out.

"Want to talk about it dear?" Adelle asked in a motherly tone.

"I'm reliving the moment she dies over an over again. Bad. Very bad, I can't make the bad go away!" Topher sobbed into Adelle's lap.

"I know honey." Adelle said with tears stinging her eyes.

"It wasn't supposed to end. We were supposed to be together forever. Now forever is lost." Topher said as he became more distraught.

Adelle said not a word but she continued to hug Topher as tears fell down both their faces.

After a few moments of silence, the brunette pulled herself together. She didn't need to fall apart, Topher needs her.

"Do you know what today is?" Adelle asked

Topher put a finger on his chin as he thought; "Oh! Today is my birthday!" he exclaimed in delight, in which brought a smile to Adelle's somber mood.

"That's right, now, what do you want to do today?" she asked.

"I want-" Topher began with a smile before it dropped down to a frown. " I want Bennett." he ended his statement as he hugged his knees.

Adelle rubbed Topher's back comfortingly; "I know sweetheart. I wish I could giver her to you." she finished with a sigh.

"I think I want to try to sleep some more." Topher said

"Alright, if you need anything don't be afraid to call for me." Adelle said getting out of the pod, onto her feet and walking back to her office.

Topher fell fast asleep, he dreamed what his life could have been:

*DH* *DH*

_Topher Brink appeared in his dream facing a brick fireplace. The blonde wore a puzzled look on his ace as he tried to figure out why he's standing in front of a fireplace, it wasn't cold in the room._

_Topher turned around to see a living room full of furniture. What caught the blonde's eyes, however, was a toy box located between a couch and recliner. _

_Curious, Topher walks over to the box and sees spaceships, cars, Barbie dolls, teddy bears, and legos. _

_A little gasp came from behind Topher before he felt a force grab his leg. The blonde looked down to see a dusty blonde-haired child grinning up at him holding a stuffed panda bear._

"_Hi." Topher said to the child._

_The child's blue eyes stared up at Topher happily as she giggled._

"_Daddy let's go play!" The little girl sang taking Topher's hand and tugging it lightly._

"_Where are we going?" Topher laughed as he was being led by this little girl who appeared to be his daughter._

"_Upstairs to play tea party with Mr. Panda." she said_

"_Dad, I need your help." Came a soft but much more mature voice from across the hall._

"_No Natalie! Daddy and I are going to play tea party! Go ask mommy!" the little girl said._

"_Mom's tied up at the moment taking care of Alex, you know how his asthma acts up." Natalie said_

"_But noo! I never get to spend time with Daddy!" The small child's eyes watered._

_Topher noticed Natalie's features reminded him so much of Bennett, her dark hair, tanned skin, and those doe-like eyes only they were blue instead of brown_

_Then his eyes darted down to the crying child, her features were similar to Bennett's as well, only her hair was a lighter shade._

"_I'll tell you what." Topher started causing both daughters to look at him; "How about we go and have our little tea party while I help Natalie?"_

_Both girls exchanged glances and nodded._

"_Great!" Topher said with an enthusiastic clap of the hands._

_As they went upstairs, Topher looked in each room as they passed. He had a wacky smile on his face until he reached a door that he heard a familiar voice come from._

"_You two go to wherever you want me and I'll be right there." he spoke before entering the door which he heard the voice come from._

_When he walked in, he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Bennett herself, sitting in a rocking chair next to a bed where a sleeping boy with blonde hair like Topher's lied. The boy couldn't have been more than four and was hooked up to an oxygen machine. Bennett sat there watching over the boy with tears in her eyes._

_Topher walked over to her and placed a hand on her good shoulder. The brunette looked up at him as a few tears spilt over her pretty face._

_She smiled a bit and rose to her feet, "Hey honey. Alexander had a few problems with his asthma so I thought it would be best to hook him onto the oxygen and let him rest for a little while." Bennett looked over to the sleeping child again._

_Topher took a good look at his son again as well before taking Bennett's hand and leading her out into the hall._

_Once they got out of the room, Bennett put her head on Topher's chest and cried._

"_His attacks are getting worse. If I have to up his oxygen anymore, we'll have to send him to urgent care." she spoke softly through her tears._

_Topher just wrapped his arms around Bennett and help her close._

"_How are Valerie and Natalie?" she asked quietly._

"_Fine. Natalie wants me to help her with something and Valerie wants a tea party." Topher laughed._

"_You should go then." Bennett said looking up at Topher._

_The blonde put a hand on the side of her face and kissed her passionately._

"_I love you." he said before kissing her again._

"_I love you too honey." Bennett smiled._

"_Let's go see what our daughters have in store for us babe!" Topher said taking Bennett's hand again._

Soon after that, Topher woke up to the smell of a lit match. He sat up on the corner of his pod and sighed to himself as he thought of his dreams.

"Bennett." Topher spoke looking up at the ceiling; "I wish you were here."

"But I am." Came a voice next to him.

Topher jumped when he saw Bennett sitting next to him with her legs dangling inside the pod.

"H-how?" he asked

"It's your birthday silly." she answered with a sweet smile.

"But how are you here?" Topher asked

"It's my present to you. I can't stay long though." Bennett trailed off biting her lip.

Topher grabbed her face and pulled her in for a kiss, just as he had that fateful day, the only difference being, this kiss was much slower and memorizing. Their lips parted for less than a millisecond before their lips locked again.

Once they broke apart again, Topher pulled fallen hair behind her right ear, revealing a much too familiar hole in her head.

The blonde brushed against the hole with his thumb over and over again; "I'm sorry" he said.

"It wasn't your fault." Bennett whispered.

"But-" Topher started

Bennett put her lips over his again to keep him from making anymore excuses. "Hush" she smiled once they broke apart.

"Okay. I'll hush." Topher said, his mind still discombobulated from the surprise kiss.

Bennett smiled as Topher furthered their proximity once more and wrapped his arms around Bennett to kiss her lovingly.

"I love you Bennett." Topher said resting his chin on her forehead.

"I love you too Topher Brink." Bennett said raising her head a bit to kiss Topher once.

They lingered in each other's loving embrace for as long as they could.

"Happy birthday Topher." Bennett said giving him a passionate farewell kiss as her tears furiously fell.

Within that instance, the brunette genius was gone and the only trace of her was her sweet vanilla smell and the taste of her lingering on Topher's mouth.

Soon, Adelle came in with a birthday cake and saw Topher sitting on the edge of his pod.

"Topher?" Adelle called walking over to him.

The genius turned to see a big cake that says '_Happy Birthday Topher'_. A childlike grin illuminated his features for the first time in a while.

"How was your nap?" Adelle asked she kissed him on the top of the head.

"It was nice. Then, Bennett visited me." Topher said happily.

Adelle often worried that he was hallucinating.

"Your birthday wish?" She asked

"Yes. She'll be back. I know it." he said with a triumphant smile.

**Alright, well tell me what you thought. Please review!**


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